New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-10-17
OuTWITTING THE POLICE.
rur wOODFORD MEETING HELD IN sriiH
'A OF PROCLAMATION.
v.r GATHERING AT ONE O'CLOCK IN THE
.,npvtSG - THE CONsTABLEs AND "iiAiA"i
.pp1yyp ON THE SCENE SEVERAL hooH'
TOO IArE-sEEKING CONSOLATION
IN TWELVE CASKS OF PORTER
IBY CABLE TO THE TRIBuNEl

roo LATE-sEEKING CoNsoLA''ON
IN TWELVE CASKS OF PORTER
tpv eAprr TO THE TRIBUNE.]
~, 1897, By The Neio York Tribune
wooproRp, Oct. 16.-1he midnight meeuhg Vi
roo,eord. will rank as the most singu'"r' inc
,ost striking and the most crushing misconih'uie
,;oh tho Irish people have yet inflicted on Mr.
Ralfours government.
AN ror az briefly as / can the story,
;,h which all Ireland and England VIII DC
SINGING tomorrow Woodford is the centre oil 'nc
c,on,;cardc estate. on which two thousand tenants
.;n,o twc,ve months joined the Plan OF
Coooroicnr Since the famous resistance oil o"uh-
L. For, las, wear. the Government have shirlIed
.,,r;no the odum of lending their forces to
Lord Clanricardc to carry out evlctions but
instead they lend his agent permanent squad
of police. who accompany him and his emergency
mon ON their midnight raids u.on the tenants
cattle
This agent whose predecessor resigned IN dis
cnst. is a new man. lie has established himself
in the centre of the immense tract of country
covered by Lord Canrcardes estates. exactly as if
he were some robber baron of the Middle Ages
with a troop of banditti. Escorted by the forces
Of the Crown, he salies forth in night TO seize
and drive off whatever stock he finds unmatched
on the tenants fields lie lceIs the people in n
state of never-ccasng wakcfuness and anxiety
The shopkcepcrs of the little town of Woodford,
who are also tenants. have to keep their shops
always closed and barricadcd, and TO transact
business with their customers by stratagem.
PLANNING TO BAULK THE POLICE.
To protest against this system and
to help allay the evaporation of the people,
monster meeting summoned III Woodford for
this day, the anniversary of the adoption of the
"Plan of Campaign" The National Lcaguers ex-
pected 1t would be proclaimed but though 1t was
announced on Tuesday. it was not proclaimed
until Yesterday, at all hour too late TO convey the
news to half the contingents coming to the meet
ing. The Castle had deliberately set a trap in
order to provoke another Mltchestown.
For all this the National League were prepared.
They made arrangements to baulk the police OF
bloodshed and to hold the meeting in spite of them
These plans triumph of ingenuity. Their
execution was triumph of discipline. Hitherto,
in order hold prohibited mectlDe
we have adopted the course of en-
gaging the attention of the authorities at the
adve rtised spot, while the meeting beng held
elsewhere. AS the Government had become nsed
TO this scheme, another had to be devised and this
time the meeting to be he'd at the advertI sed
spot while the enemy kept amused in ano her
direction 1t was further arranged to hold it AT
the first hour of the morning, immedi atey after
the stroke of midnI ght.
MR. O'BRIEN's SHREwD CALCULATIONS.
In Woodford there is no accommodation for troops
81 Mr.. William OBrien. who as the Nationalists,
general on the OCCASION calculated that the au
thorities would mass their forces at the
nelghborlng towns of Poltumna aud Lougn-
rea and if their suspicious were not
aroused spend the night there. TO induce them TO
keep to thus pro rram he, two of the members of
Parhanen announced to attend the meeting went
yesterday to Portumna. the other to Louzh-
rea as If their intention re 10 proceed to Wood
ford next morning They he'd meetings last night
at both those places which 50 far interested the
police that they turned out and dispersed them.
Meanwhile. Mr.. OBnen, with Mr.. ROWAN Is, an
English member; Mr. Wllfrid Blunt and my
yanced on the Woodford road, via Limerick
and Bodvke. The local leaders throughout
South Galway had orders TO start their contin-
gents at o o'clock ald assemble III Woodford by
midnight Somebody at Woodford cnt the tele
grqph wires and the police there could send no
word of what was going Oh to the forces at
Loughrca and Pofiumna. This step not III the
authorized programme, but 1t helped the cause OF
peace.
..I. II .I,o l,y inh threv
the authorities off the scent would require chap
ter Ii was all touch and 90 to tho last moment
for the Immense forces massed Tor the OCCASION
were bent upon blOoIshed, a1d II was impossible TO
tell what accident would apprise them OF our in-
tentions and send them gallOpiDg upon Woodford.
On arriving at Bodyke, Mr. o. 3rien and our party
put up with the parish priest We dlned there, and
after dinner went out to the village. where a torch
light procession awaited us. and made speeches
from the historic rock Of Tom Granney, from which
OConnell once spoke. Then we returned TO the
priests house. The prOcesslOnists went home 10
bed and the Bodyke police went to the telegraph
office and wired to Portumna that all was well and
U'Brien and his friends going to spend the night
with Iather Murphy.
STEALING AWAY WHILE THE POLICE
An hour later there might have been seven
silent figures stealing like scectreo in the darkness
through the priests garden, past the back of the
ponce parack, through thc husheu sioet
Of the village of Scarn and out upon
the Woodford road. There were three members of
Parliament. distinguished English philsnthro-
pIst, the pressman and a stalwart young curate.
who acted guide. walk of half mile brought
us 10 two cars which waited for u.s. We divided
into two parties Mr.. VBrien takes charge of one,
of the other; and III a moment are speeding
toward WOOdford, which lies twelve Irish miles
away.
1t is just the night for conspiracv-pitch dark.
but fine. About three miles outside Woodford
hear tw shTll Whistles on the roadside; then in
tine still strikIno of n match and the cren-